Legislation introduced by Allen West (R-FL) would eliminate annual pay increases for employees who do not perform well in the Department of Defense. The bill is HR 1248 and has been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The bill would prohibit Defense civilian employees who receive unsatisfactory performance ratings from receiving annually awarded salary increases or locality pay.
It is probably not coincidental that the Congressman’s bill targets the Department of Defense: Allen West is the third of four generations of military servicemen in his family. He was a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Army and retired from the military in 2004 and received numerous military honors during his military service.
According to the Congressman: “The Federal Government has a spending problem. While the Democrats continue to propose to add trillions of dollars in new spending and new taxes, I am keeping my promise to my constituents to responsibly cut government spending in order to get the American Fiscal House back in order.”
In addition to the proposal outlined above, he is also submitting legislation to accomplish the following:
- A House Resolution to reduce the printing and reproduction budget by 10%. Would generate $35.7 million in savings in FY12, reaching nearly $180 million in savings through FY16.
- A House Resolution to reduce funding for Defense studies, analysis and evaluations by 10%. This would purportedly generate a savings of $24 million in FY12, returning up to $120 million to the treasury through FY16.
And, in another twist, the legislation will be voted on by the public through the YouCut project.
The Congressman’s website describes this project as follows: “The YouCut project is a first of a kind project, designed to defeat the permissive culture of runaway spending in the United States Congress. It allows Americans to vote, both online and by cell phone, on spending cuts that Americans want to see the House of Representatives enact. Each week that the House is in session, the winning item will be offered on the floor for an up-or-down vote.”
For those readers with an interest, you can see how to vote on the proposals.
